Pubdate: Wed, 30 Dec 2015
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 2015 Houston Chronicle Publishing Company Division, Hearst Newspaper
Contact: http://www.chron.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/198
Author: Dane Schiller
Page: B1
APPEALS COURT TO HEAR LAWSUIT AGAINST DEA
A federal appeals court has agreed to hear oral arguments in the case
of a Texan suing the Drug Enforcement Administration for using his
18-wheeler without permission for a drug cartel sting that ended in
Houston with an informant fatally shot while driving the truck.
A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based
in New Orleans, is scheduled to take the case in February.
Lawyers for Craig Patty are hoping the court will reverse a decision
by U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal that Patty should get nothing
from the DEA for secretly using his truck, which was shot with
bullets, including those that killed Lawrence Chapa, who was behind the wheel.
Chapa, who worked for Patty's trucking company, was secretly working
as a DEA informant in 2011 when he drove a load of marijuana from the
Rio Grande Valley to Houston in coordination with law-enforcement
officers, who were covertly trailing him. They were to sweep in and
make arrests when the load reached its destination. Instead it was
intercepted in broad daylight by cartel attackers. In the ensuing
confusion, a plainclothes Houston Police officer also shot and
wounded a plainclothes Harris County sheriff 's deputy.
Patty contends in his civil suit that the government should not only
pay for fixing the truck and the temporary loss of its use after the
2011 shootout, but also for the emotional turmoil he and his family
endured as they feared the notorious Los Zetas cartel would target them.
Patty had sought up to $6.4 million with the lawsuit but said from
the start that his main goal was to shed light on the case and have
the facts be known publicly. Many of the government's motions filed
in the case were kept sealed to protect the secrecy of DEA operations.
The government basically contends that it needs discretion when it
comes to fighting crime and that it needed to use Patty's truck.
"The government just absolutely totally violated Craig Patty's
constitutional rights," Patty's lawyer Andy Vickery said. "If this
case is affirmed, if the courts puts its imprimatur on this case,
then all of us as citizens are subject to having our vehicles used at
any time without our knowledge or approval by police who say 'heck,
let's just use this car.' "
Vickery said the goal is to have the appeals court panel rule that
the government can indeed be held liable for the full range of
damages and then get the case sent back to the trial court for
evidence to be heard and a decision on damages to be made.
Patty originally went public with his concerns about the government
to send a message to the cartels that he and his family had no idea
that Chapa was secretly working for the DEA and trying to set up a
drug bust. Patty also spoke of his frustration at the government's
actions not only in putting him and his family through emotional
turmoil, but also in refusing to provide any answers as to what it
had been doing or to pay for repairs to his truck. He was told to
come pick up the truck, which had bullet holes in it as well as blood
splattered inside the cab from Chapa's death. Patty said he was even
threatened with impound fees if he didn't come get the truck.
He has said he suspects the government is interested in not just
hiding how it conducts drug operations, but in this instance, what went wrong.
"How am I - a small businessman, father of three, American Joe from
Texas - supposed to make a claim against a federal agency that has
conveniently shrouded itself behind a red, white and blue cloak of
confidentiality and secrecy?" he said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom